Donald Trump has said that if a foreign power offered dirt on his 2020 opponent, he would be open to accepting it and would have no obligation to call in the FBI.

“I think I’d want to hear it,” the US President said during an Oval Office interview with the US ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, adding: “There’s nothing wrong with listening.”

Asked whether his 2020 presidential campaign advisers should accept information on a rival from Russia, China or another nation or call the FBI, Mr Trump said, “I think maybe you do both” and indicated he would be open to reviewing it.

Donald Trump said he’d ‘want to hear’ any dirt offered by a foreign power on his 2020 opponent. Picture: AP Photo/Jacquelyn MartinSource:AP

“I think you might want to listen,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with listening. If somebody called, from a country — Norway — ‘we have information on your opponent.’ Oh, I think I’d want to hear it.

“It’s not an interference, they have information, I think I’d take it.”

He then tweeted: “I meet and talk to ‘foreign governments’ every day. I just met with the Queen of England (U.K.), the Prince of Whales (sic), the P.M. of the United Kingdom, the P.M. of Ireland, the President of France and the President of Poland. We talked about ‘Everything!’ Should I immediately call the FBI about these calls and meetings? How ridiculous! I would never be trusted again. With that being said, my full answer is rarely played by the Fake News Media. They purposely leave out the part that matters.”

.....call the FBI about these calls and meetings? How ridiculous! I would never be trusted again. With that being said, my full answer is rarely played by the Fake News Media. They purposely leave out the part that matters.

The astonishing comments from Mr Trump came after the former reality star last month tweeted that Russia “helped (him) to get elected”, before quickly backtracking. “No, Russia did not help me get elected,” he said. “I got me elected.”

The role of his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, in organising a 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer offering negative information on Hillary Clinton was a focus of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian meddling in the last presidential campaign.

FBI Director Christopher Wray told politicians that Don Jr should have called the agency to report the offer from the country. But Mr Trump, who nominated Mr Wray to the role in 2017, told ABC News that he disagreed. “The FBI director is wrong,” the President said. “Life doesn’t work like that.”

He added: “Not only wasn’t (Donald Trump Jr) charged but if you read it, with all of the horrible fake news, I was reading that my son was going to go to jail, this is a good young man.”

The #MuellerReport made it clear: A foreign government attacked our 2016 elections to support Trump, Trump welcomed that help, and Trump obstructed the investigation. Now, he said he'd do it all over again. It's time to impeach Donald Trump. https://t.co/yk25iGYpmC

One of Mr Trump’s possible opponents in the 2020 race, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, tweeted: “A foreign government attacked our 2016 elections to support Trump, Trump welcomed that help, and Trump obstructed the investigation. Now, he said he’d do it all over again. It’s time to impeach Donald Trump.”

The President responded by saying he “did nothing wrong” and tweeting a quote from a constitutional lawyer that Congress could not impeach without “compelling evidence” of “treason, bribery, high crimes & misdemeanors” or it would be putting itself above the law.

Filmmaker Rob Reiner tweeted: “Here we go again. Trump admits on camera he would break the law again & welcome help from a foreign enemy power to win an election … Impeach this asshole!”

Author Ron Fournier said the ABC interview crystallised what is at stake. “Unless Democrats and Republicans in Congress impeach him, every future president has grounds to ask foreign adversaries to launch covert operations against political rivals in the US,” he said.

Mr Trump’s bizarre statement comes just a month after he pledged not to use information stolen by foreign adversaries in his 2020 re-election campaign, and insisted he had not used such information to his benefit in 2016.

The US President said he would have no responsibility to report such an offer to the FBI. Picture: AP Photo/Jacquelyn MartinSource:AP

During a question-and-answer session with reporters in the Oval Office in May, Mr Trump said he “would certainly agree to” that commitment. “I don’t need it,” he said as he met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. “All I need is the opponents that I’m looking at.”

The President insisted that he “never did use, as you probably know,” such information when running against Hillary Clinton, adding: “That’s what the Mueller report was all about. They said no collusion.”

Mr Mueller painstakingly documented Russian efforts to boost the Trump campaign and undermine that of his Democratic rival. He did not establish a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Mr Trump’s campaign, although the President in 2016 repeatedly praised WikiLeaks and celebrated information exposed by Russian hackers.

Mr Mueller broke his silence on the probe late last month, saying he believed he was constitutionally barred from charging Mr Trump with a crime, but his report did not exonerate the President. Having detailed at least 10 possible acts of obstruction by Mr Trump, Mr Mueller said it was not possible to say the US leader committed no crime.

He emphasised that he was bound by the longstanding policy that a sitting president could not be charged with a crime, saying it was now up to Congress to pursue the issue through its impeachment powers.

Mr Mueller pointedly rejected Mr Trump’s repeated claims that the President had been cleared of obstruction of justice allegations, saying he had “established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome.”

Mr Trump described the special counsel as a “never Trumper” and accused him of leading a biased investigation.